John White Alexander

The Blue Bowl

John White Alexander launched his career as an illustrator and political cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, but by 1904, when The Blue Bowl appeared at RISD’s Autumn Exhibition, he had achieved international stature as a painter. Like other young artists of his generation, he had advanced his training in Paris, there combining a fluid technique with a keen understanding of the asymmetric spatial principles of Japanese art. More than the Delft bowl of the title, it is the back of the model’s dress, spread out as she bends to observe a fallen bloom, which forms the true subject of this painting. Sinuous curves and a floral-patterned surface represent the height of Art Nouveau costume, pictorial design, and compositional daring at the turn of the century.

The Blue Bowl was shown in Paris and Vienna before appearing at RISD’s Autumn Exhibition of 1904. Alexander’s sophisticated style was unique in America, presenting feminine subjects in flattened and asymmetric spaces.

More than the Delft bowl of the title, the true focus of the painting is the back of the model’s dress. Executed with thin washes of color on roughly textured canvas, its sinuous curves and floral-patterned folds illustrate the height of Art Nouveau costume and pictorial design. The painting’s decorative theme and compositional daring are further enhanced by the rhythmic floral reliefs on its custom frame.

Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. “Selection VII”. Providence: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design,1977.

Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. “A Handbook of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design”. Providence: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1985.